THE KING’S BUSINESS
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ponents of the morals and religion of God’s chosen land; the secular court of the proud est nation in the world combined in ren dering the sentence of death upon a man who was never tried, who was given no opportunity to defend Himself, and against whom the world has never been able to, lay a single charge. At the expense of truth and righteousness, He is turned over to a frenzied mob, thirsting for His blood. Every known indignity is heaped upon His devoted head. Jew and gentile united to make Him a laughing stock, crowned Him with thorns and spat upon Him. Was He the Christ? If so, what part do they play in the drama of real life; who are the indifferent wit nesses to this shameless sentence, and who refuse to rally to His standard, who de clared Himself to be the Son of God? Was He a blasphemer, or was He indeed the King of kings, whose glory shall one day outshine that of all earthly empires? “ Be hold the Man!” What shall we say? Is it “ Away with H im !” or “My Lord and my G od!” Lesson IX.—November 29 Golden Text.—Isaiah 53:4 “Surely he hath borne our griefs, am» carried our sorrows: yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted.”' “And they crucified him.” —Human hands laid hold of Him whose hands had fash ioned the worlds, and human hearts, lashed by Satan . into hellish .hate, gloried with fiendish joy in.' their triumph over Him. They had stripped Him who had clothed the fields with grass. Their foul mouths had spat upon Him who spake as never' man spake. They had smitten Him and now He hung between earth and heaven, a bleeding, dying victim of Jewish rage. Hu man nature had found vent for its pent-up wickedness. There are no deeper depths into which the nature of sinful man can descend than that which is manifested in the crucifixion of Christ-by the Jews and His rejection by the world. Who can describe the agony of those
three hours of midnight darkness spent by the Son of God upon the Cross! Three hours segregated from all other hours in human history! Three hours in which the awful mystery of the atonement was work ed out. The face of God was veiled Irom Him, for God is “of purer eyes than to behold evil and canst not look on iniquity ,ifk Habakkuk 1 :13. There was no presence of God in that horrible night of His suifering soul. He was treading the wine-press of the wrath of God alone. The prince of darkness and all of the hosts of evil held high carnival in those hours. He was then made sin,—2 Corinthians S :21. God laid on Him the iniquity of us all,—Isaiah S3:6. In that hour the Lamb of God bore away the sins of the whole world,—John 1 :29, and sanctified His followers with His own blood,—Hebrews 13:12. “He cried with a loud voice.” And this loud voice was the testimony that He had power to lay down His life,—John 10:18. The veil in the tem ple was rent in twain and a new and liv ing way was opened, by which God, by reason o f the finished work of His cruci fied Son, can come out of the Holy of holies and bestow blessing upon sinful man. We see in the crucifixion of the Lord Jesus Christ man at his worst and God at His best. Lesson X.—December 6 Golden Text.—Luke 24:5-6 “ Why seek ye the living among the dead? H e is not here but is risen." . They came to see a sepulchre, did these good women. They came to anoint a body. They came with memories paralyzed. He had said, He must die and rise again on the third day. They had forgotten His words. They loved Him, but their presence- with spices was witness to their faulty mem ory or their unbelief. They came seeking the dead. The shadows of those three dark hours of the cross were upon them and God designed to turn their darkness into the gladdest day of their lives.. The angel read the fear that was in their hearts and spoke the words of comfort, “ Fear not ye.” ' He
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